Seven year mental health report – Mission Australia and Black Dog Institute

show Side Menu

News Categories

Content last updated 2/12/2019

Seven year mental health report – Mission Australia and Black Dog Institute

Mission Australia and the Black Dog Institute have released a seven year mental health report.

Can we talk? Seven-year youth mental health report – 2012-2018 tracks Mission Australia’s Youth Survey findings of psychological distress experienced by young people aged 15-19 from 2012 – 2018.

The report examines the concerns, general wellbeing and help-seeking behaviours of the close to 27,000 participants, including those who are experiencing psychological distress, and makes policy recommendations to address the growing mental health concerns of young people.

We have included an embargoed copy of the report and infographic for your viewing before tomorrow’s release.

Key Findings

  • Close to one in four young people met the criteria for experiencing psychological distress – a substantial increase over the past seven years (rising by 5.5% from 18.7% in 2012 to 24.2% in 2018).
  • Across seven years, females were twice as likely as males to experience psychological distress. The increase in psychological distress has also been far more marked among females (from 22.5% in 2012 to 30.0% in 2018, compared to a rise from 12.7% to 15.6% for males).
  • In 2018, more than three in ten (31.9%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people met the criteria for psychological distress, compared to 23.9% non-Indigenous young people. Compared to young people without psychological distress, young people with psychological distress were more concerned about:
    • Mental health (62.7% compared with 20.8%)
    • Coping with stress (74.3% compared with 33.5%)
    • Body image (55.2% compared with 22.6%)
    • School or study problems (55.4% compared with 27.0%) and
    • Suicide (35.6% compared with 9.4%)
  • One in five young people with psychological distress felt they didn’t have someone they could turn to in a crisis.

The report also outlines a variety of recommendations.

For more information or a full briefing please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us by email at researchandpolicy@missionaustralia.com.au. You are welcome to follow and support us on social media @MissionAust using #YouthSurvey2018.